VINDICATION OP THE UNION.
SPEECH OF' HON. JOSEPH. SEGAI
The following speech was delivered by the
Iron. Jostim SEumt, *presentative from
the First Congressional District of Virginia,
'before the Union meeting in Portsmouth,
Va., some time in May last :
When I last trod the streets of Portsmouth,
our country was at peace, and the people of
this whole land were the most blessed on the
lapct i of the globe. The storm of commercial
riytilsion which had swept over the land in
-1851 had lulled, and under the influence of..
4b1:44W - crops - and the recuperative energies
cOt bUr people, the country lied reached a
liOint of prosperity it lied never known be
lore. The whole lend bloomed. The plough
Atias sped, the loom rattled, and the anvil
---fitinz. Plenty smiled over thirty-two millions
kif contented and happy people. But, oh
414}0d l• 'how changed the scene I " Wild war's
deadly blast is blowing," and has carried
desolation to every interest, and every hearth
and fireside within our State.
We ale not only involved in war, but in
civil war ; a war which has ruptured all the
ties of kindred and blood, and brought in
hostile meeting on the same battle-field fath
er and son, and brother and brother. thir
trade is gone; the grass flourishes in the
streets of our cities; the millions of trade
we once had with the North, and which gave
thrift awl comfort and even subsistence to
so many of our people, has perished ; our
whole people, from the stripling - hid to the
hoary head, have gone to the tented field ;
the price of even the necessaries 14 lire arc
insufferably high f and the workingmen and
the poor men of every class arc at starva
tion's point. Who did all this? Whose
mikhty sin is ii? Oar secession friends say
it rests upon us, the Union men—that we
who liar • stood by the Stars and Stripes are
re'sputisible —that, by a certain sacred prin
ciple of State rights we ought to have fol
lowed our State into secession, Or whitherso
ever else . she called us—that we are traitors
to our State, because we wouLl do it not--
and that by not making common cause a
gainst the vile Yankees (who, in my judg
ment, have done them no wrong*,) we were
playing into the hands of the wie•nies of 'the
South, and that we are responsible for this
ruinous war. lam here to dent• the - eharge
•and to disprove it.• No part of the monntata
load of guilt 0f breakiwz up our glori.oli
Union is ours. \Ve toe no! traitor,. I have
been SO &Owl Neu,' a 01011'3;111d :11101 twice a
thousand times; hut It vow I ;on no traitor.
The treason •is theirs who, by seeessi tn, have
thrown down the pillars of the American
Union i and their treason is a double
treason to their State and treason to the Su
preme Governinent of the 1 - nion.
\Ve have obeyed our State, they have not.
We have been true both to our State and the
Union, for we hold that loyally to the Union
is no disloyalty to our State. That State
herself, when she ratified the Federal Con
stitution, and became a party to the great
compact of Union, bound herself by each
and every one of its provi , ions, and com
manded all her citizens to adopt this Consti
tution as a rule of political conduct—not
only as a rule, but aSU preme rule. She said
LO me, and she' said to woo :—/L're.is this
Constitution, made by \V ASO YtITON :11),1 by
FILA NE MN and- M.tutsox ; tale it for .
gu id t3 .___ o b ey it—stand bv it. anything in my
laws or Constitution to the contrary notwit
standing; which, being interprt•ted, meanoth
this, and this only—that when the Cotistittk? .
tion and laws Of the Federal Governmet t
come in clash with my Constitution and mb ,
laws, mine must give Way, awl those of the
supreme Federal Government prevail_ Well,
the two did come in conflict, and we Union
men, like trained soldiers, obeyed orders.
We took our State nt her word. When
she brought herself in contact with the Fed
eral Government, we did exactly what site
told us to do—recognized the ktter as su
preme and herself as subordinate. Is this
treason ? If so, •' make the most of it."—
Again, the State expressly covenanted with
her sister States that this matchless instru
ment should never be altered, save by the
assent of three-fourths of all the States. Not
an i was to be dotted nor a 1 to lie crossed
but by the runcurrent stipulation of three
lourtlis nt t;•te States ; and a wise provision
was it. 'lt had been fr mod under circum
stances the most auspicious, with a light
beaming bright from the failure of the old
Confederation. It hail emanated from match
less wisdom ; from the wisest heads and the
purest hearts ever brought to think and to
feel fur huinvi affairs. Ni wonder, then, it
was provided, in the instrument itself, that
it-should not be a bandied o' change,
but remain in all its glory andur vigor, wail
its detects should become so manifest, as to
bring three-fourths of th, States to the cim
viction that it needed amendment. Now,
having agreed that three-fourths of the rati
fying parties should alone change its provi
sions, how can Virginia claim, of her own
separate will and act, to change it in anv
regard, lunch less destroy it altogether? Is
not secession a change of the constitution,
and a change in the most vital particular?
By what authority, then, can Virginia her
self, wanting ths Tower trotter the ent i
tUtiOn in the slightest respect, command her
sons to submit to alterations not agreed on by
the constitutional majority of three-fourths?
But a State, say the secessionists, acting in
convention, is put upon her own sovereignty,
and being put upon her s Nereign powers, it
makes secession legal and right—overrules
the supreme law of the Union. Immortal .
doctrine, fellow-citizens. Does the formality
of a convention wake lawful that which was
unlawful before ? Does the mere going into
conventiou.. relieve a State of her solemn ob
ligations? Does it wipe out the sin of her
broken pledges and violated faith 7 Besides,
is any State sovereign ?
State sovereignty, gentlemen, under our
system, is an outspeaking absurdity. The
idea is stupidity's self. Virginia could not
coin a copper cent nor a silver dime. She
could nut declare sear, nor raise an army,
nor maintain a navy, nor lay an impost
duty, nor establish a post road. Tliese, and
many other sovereign attributes, she sur
rendered to the Federal Government for the
common good, and with the express under
standing that there should be no alteration
of the system, no addition to or subtraction
from it, except by the concurrent act of
thre -fourths of her sister States. And yet,
this absurd pretension of absolute State sov
ereigntyrthis airy myth, has been the false
light held up by demagogues and tiblificians
to mislead the honest masses,-and which has
led more thousands to the hog of. disunion
than any other igniisjiduus of the day
We, then, who have clung to the Federal
Union, against our State, have not been dis
loyal to that State—have committed no trea
son against her, no-rebellion against her
government. and laWs--,,isnd so no part of
the responsibility of this wicked Rebellion is
upon us.
•And we Union men have the proud ,con
solatioit that the position we stand on is.the
position on which every great and distin
guished Virginian liasstood, , siave 0ne,;,.,. Our
secession friends cdn point to:only one great
VOL. 63.
A. K. RHEEM, Editor & Proprietor
man to.-justify. their madness, that is Lyttle
ton Waller Tazewell, a great mind, truly,
but one, like Mr. Calhoun's, misled by too
many vagaries to deal rightly with the prac
tical affairs of human government. Gov.
Tazewell, with his truth-distorting powers,
was with them. The great and good Wash
ington was With us. ttld Ben. Franklin, the
sage philos , pher and statesman, was with
us. ;lames Madison, the father of the Con
stitution, whose master hand, more than any
other, fashioned the great work, was with us.
,fohn Marshall, America's Mansfield and
Cato of Utica, die cloudless light of whose
luminous mind ever made tt uth's pathway
clear, was with us. Patrick Henry, liberty's
thunderer in revtlutionary times, was with
us. Spencer Roane, the brightest Virginia
jurist of his day, and tt State rights man of
the straightest sect, was with us. J ohn
Taylor, of Carolina, the strictest construer of
all construers, he was with us. And :ill the
prominent jurists of other States, the Kent::
and Storys, and Warnes and Catr,.m, and
,Mc-hracs, and Donglases, and Reverdy
John
sons. all, all are nn our side. All these :old
many more of tin r eminent legal inert.`ton
tenons to mention," have .lerlared it as th, it
opinion, that separate State Secession ;s not
only illegal. unconstitutional, but treasona
ble ; and Thomas Ritchie, the great Demo
(nal i.srounder of his time, who gay.i his
law to the State rights Democracy, who ever
and anon held up State-rights to his f,illow
ers as their guide :Lod Shiloh, even he de
nounced sece,,Mo as treason, treason to
all intents and. pu poses. - Now, it you and--
,
I, fellow citizens, who refused to pull tip till
tear down that olorious cosign of power and
glory, the Stars and Stripes, are traitors, so
wero Washington, ;111.1 Ileum and Madison,
sold Frankii.., and NlarshalLanti Ifortne, and
John Taylor, nil Kent., and Sion , . and last•
ti ugh not least, Mr. Ritchie. It' we are
traitors, we are in good company— bettor
company; by it trionsatcl.fold, than that of
Jeff. Davis. and Toombs, and the netts,
and Cobh, and Iverson, RIP] II . 11jitmin. and
Slidell, and Keitt, aml Pickens, and the
smaller-fry s who have dared to
"rash in where angels fear to tread," and
whose ILIIt , ur inhi;tuttion, or niadth,,l, Or
111/111111i1Woll tunLitiun. .n SMllle whet talse .
principle or no tive, has impelled them to
the infamous 01 k betaking down that
ever-precious Gov•minent which was wis
dam's chiefest emit ri mice, awl freedom's
noblest boast—the Cm.stitut ion of the United
States, and the unmatched 1:111.011 it crested.
Stand firm, then, my Union friends of Ports
mouth. , You ate in the hest of company.—
You are iu tilt. right,. and (Lai is with the
right. Stand by the Stars and 111.11 V
and forev,r. the union colors to t he
and if . the ruin!) ship inn-it sink, let
it go down, as ttni slim 11 did n
short time since. in Hampton Bonds, with
the A tueriean Insign streaming- above the
sinking hulk.
e The Southern ~;ecessioniAs have also ap
pealed to us to go with our State into slice--
sien, because of the insulrerable wrongs the
North lies done its. We are ground into
dust., say they. We have out a right left,
they declare, and they appeal to us all to
quit our peaceful vocations and our happy
homes to go forth to the battle-field and lay
low the wicked Yankees who have dared to
trample upon Soul hero ri:zlits. Well, what's
the wrung, where is the aggression? I call
upon yqu, one and all, and particularly any
secessionist, if there be one here. to tell Inc
what We an! now fighting for. So help 110.1
G 01), Ido 1101 know. I want information.
I kuow well enough what the Northern peo
ple are Aiglitin!! Jur. They heard the great
bell Roland toll. They saw the Proclama
tion of President 1.1 sews, hownioning th, 111
to patriot's work, and they rushed noun to
iindical the ;tuth lritV of the Supreme Gov
ernment, fool to preserve the bust t-levern
ment on God's green earth ; re,bfro the
ancient I Thion, to keep the Stars and Stripes
nfloat. I call well conccivc lion our North
ern brethr,t; and our Western brethren have
come, legion upon legion, to the camp and
the battle-ground ; but. I ha. e never been
informed, and 1 have never been able to
perceive, why it is that the ,tiontlt tins be
conic involved in this deplorable conflict.—
What aggression has been perpetrated by
this so-hated Federal Government, upon the
rights of the South ? The United States have
statute•book, and there is written down in
it each and every one of its Jaws. Now let
any secessionist, or any man else, take up
this statute-book, and point me to the sta
tute which has hurt the, hair of the head 01
any Southern mutt , woman, or child! There
is no such statute there. The much-abused
and much-hated North has put ud such sta
tute there. And not only hits the Federal
Government-done us no practical wrong, but
I aver that it has been to the South the kind
est Government that ever a people had. If
I have been ale ays kind to you, my old
friend Sroaai (addressing an old friend fuel
neighbor from his county,) and have granted
now this favor and that, and this request
and that, and done for you all that you ask
ed, would you not regard me as a kind sort
of somebody, as a friend? ("1 woild," re
sponded Mr. STonits.) Well, just so it was
with the Federal Government and the South.
All that the latter asked—no matter what—
it got. !n 1793 it asked for a fugitive slave
law, to recover their slaves escaping to the,
Free States, and the North said —Yes, you
are entitled to this law, of constitutional
right, and you shall have it. And so we got
it. But in the course of time, this law of
1793 was found ineffectual, and the South
said to the North—the Federal Government
—give us' a better fugitive slave law, one
more stringent in its provisions, one that
will more effectually protect our slave prop
erty.--And-the North Sithl—Ydu shall - have
it. And they not only accorded it, but the
drafting of the law was left to a Southern
Senator, James 111. Masse, of Virginia; so'
that if the fugitive slave law of 1850 was not
a good law, it was the fault of -a Southei•u
man, Mr. Mason. Again:_ In 1820 we
made a bargain, usually called the Missouri
Compromise, and the South was so tickled
with it that every Southern - Senator voted
forit, and nearly every Southern, member of
the Hobse of Representatives, while the
North,- though grumbling and surly, in a
spirit of compromise and peace, assented.—h.
But we of the South, when party polities ran
high, got tired of our bargain of 1820, mid
CARLISLE, PA., FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1863.
we said to the Federal Congress—alias the
North—" Break up this old bargain; though
we liked it at first, we don't like it now, in
this year, An no Domini 1850; so make a
new bargain with us, in lieu of the old emu-
promise of 1520." And the rederal Govern
'metrit— this touch abused and unparental
Federal Government, as the Southern people
term it—again took us at our word, abroga
ted the old Compromise, made a new bargain.
abolished the old Missouri Comprom sc. I.nd
gave us the Kansas Nebraska n , t. which
threw to the winds the once vamo-4, but
afterwards contemned Comprom se of 1820.
In a word, they gave us all we ii!;' 1, and if
they have ever refused us aught, I know it
not. I repeat, then, that this unholy war
ha.s been comtnenced, and to this hour has
been carried on without the slightest neCes•
sity. There was nu more necessity for it, so
tar as Southern rights Were concerned, titan
there is that one of you should this moment
stab me to the heart.
And wb were safe. We had nil the secur
ity we could ask of tlod or man. We were
far out of harm's way. We hail, when Mr.
I:ixcol,x was elected. a majority of twenty
one in one lIote:e of Congress, afterwards in
creasol to itvrnty five—and of six in tile
other. What had we to fear? With thes e
controlling majorities, how could a law ever
have been pased inimic LI to S,Mthern rights?
Take all illustration. A short Limo since a
Bill passed both flum;es of Congress abolish
ing sla cry in. the Disirict of Columbia—a
law affecting the interesfs, more or less, of
every slaveholder in the South. Could this
bill have become a law if the s, curled Stat'es
had Isept in the Union and maintained this
majority of twenty-live in one hoist' and six iu
the other Besides, we had the Supreme
Court upon ourside. Then we were, at the
time Sece,sion threw its dark shadow upon
impreguablysale.' We Were behind the
ramparts ot'a 'ortineation which could nei
ther be shelle I nor battered down. All the
abolition artillery of the earth would have
Iwon as impotent up ,n its wilvt• walls as
wvre the Hebei hallS 1/1 the IL/Tit/we u1..).t
,\ the clentles.i turret 01 -the But. we
lof the Sc.:4th did, what? Why we opened
wide the (loom of the fortilicatiuti, adid let
the enetny i t It, tt-dsc jet pl/56CM51011.-,--
\V 110111 taut blame hut ourselves? Whom
but the Secediug States? And it by upon
iug-the g,titewas of 'thei'r otherwise impreg
uablo fortress they are wale the sufferers,
on wh iso shoulders rests the h On ours,
the l uiott wen, or on yours, the Seceders'?
Ifni the lustitution of ,lavery, argued the
di-unionists, is ensate to the Union, and all
gliol and 4110, Southern wen must rally to
SocessiOn to inal.se shlvory, safer. Though the
Constitution dues for slave property what it
does nut for tiny cilter sl ecte- ot property
whart , oever ar , uud it. ilue :00: 4 tit its
special protection—and thouzil the Federal
legislature has rec.ignued 1:, olidga.tion to
grit: it p.-o,t-cditta, in thc i,...)9,1ews Tor
lie slaves of the tool those taken by the
British in the war ut t 41:.!, were iuvi cd tu
to pot op mare props to sustain the
institution of slavtry. Tim', we hail ender
our benetieient Union, a pillar here a pillar
there, and yet there and there again, to up
hold the fabric. But we want more pillars
yet, sail the Seeesitionists, to hold On and
make stronger this great basis of Suuthern
institutions, Well, how hits it turned out?—
Slavery lots been struck a blow from which it
will never recover. If peace be made forth
with the Southern monopoly of the cotton pro
duction nuns be tnaintamed, and some of the
rank antagonisms of slavery now striking at
its vitals, or sharpening, their fangs fur a
more deadly assault, may be propitiated, anti
the institution rescued front destruction. But
delay in pacific arrangement will be absolute
ly !alai to slavery. On this point I shall not
enlarge; but let us enter into a practical con
sideratton and estimate with our Secession
antagonists. How is it with the r,ilue of slave
property, and the scruro of it, under Seces•
sion and the Union comparatively ? I will il
lustrate by an argument. I used in the county
of Northampton, when, in a late canvass,
was seeking a seat in Congress. I appealed
to (lie people present to tell We what a likely
young negro man would then bring for cash.
I was answered, " Not inure than two hun•
'lced and fifty dollars." What would such a
negro slave have brought &fore the passage
of 'the Virginia Secession ordinance? •‘ Prom
seventeen hundred and tifty dolltirs to two
thousand dollars." IYII9I he reply. Then, said
I, here is the rrithrnetical result : su the happy
hours of the Union you could get seventeen
_ bun dred_amil fifty _dollars for your shave,--find
now, in Secession's hour, you can get only
two hundred and fifty—just one seventh of
what you could have obtained inn those blessed
hours when the Stars and Stripes waved over
an undismembered laud! A loss, said I, of
just. fifteen hundred dollars on, each likely
slave! Now give me. I continued, the num
ber of likely slaves in your count) , and I will
tell you, in figures, what the people of North
hampton have lost, by Secession, in this sin..
gle item of slaves. Multiply that number by
IWO, and you have. Figure it up when you
will, you will find that while you were striv
ing, by Secession to have your slave proper
ty maintained at its old value, you have al
ready lost some twenty or thirty millions of
dollars in slave property alone!
,'lrnd as to
the mat (Cr of safety, how is it ? In the
blessed days of the Union you rarely lost a
slave, because, if your slave escaped, ho was
delivered back-e5l you under the fugitive slave
law. But how is it now, in Secession's reign ?
Let (said 1) the eighteen slaves captured just
on the Maryland line, and brought back to
their owners here, this morning, let the bills
before Congress to abolish slavery in the Dis
trict of Columbia,.and,to emancipate nearly
all the slaves in the South, answer my ques
tion, whether slavery was safer under the
blessed auspices of the Union, or under the
ruinous ascendancy of Seoession ?
And I propound the inquiry to you,.men of
Portsmouth, herc, - t - o-day, whoa Wits your
slave: property the more valuable, and the
safer—in Union's hour or Secession's hour ?
See, then. the delusion of our follow citizens
of. the South in rushing into Secession to save
their: slave property ! Oh, fatal mistake:-
'And hem I submit ono more arithmetical
view. Virginia, by the lato,ensus, lost, in
1860, ]l7 staves as fugitives. rut down the
average value 11000 each (which is most lib.
cral,) and .all the loss we have; by fugitive
slaves, iu ono year, is $117,000. Losing, in
this way, only $117,000' per year,. wo sought
to make the annual loss less—and have we
not •-put our foot into it ?"
Let us have the figures. Annual loss, un
der the Union, 41,17,090. Per contra. Oh,
~~~~1
what, shah it bo ? ghat, really, is it? shud-
der to strike the balance. Virginia's share
of the Confederate debt cannot be less, at this
moment, than fifty millions. I believe it to
be far more. A sum which would pay for
her loss by fugitive slaves for near five hun
dred years to come ! Or, in the light of an
nual interest, a tax of $3,000,000 per annum
on the people, to avoid an annual loss of
$117,000. If the war lasts two years, it will
be a tax upon the people of $6.000,000 per
year, to save $117,000 per year. And so on,
if the war should last. live years, the people
of Virginia, to save $117.000 per annum, will
find themselves borne down by a public debt
which would not leave a morsel of bread to
their starving families, and which no people
OD earth ()mid endure. And the next item,
the numerous trillions wo shall have lost by.
the prostration of our onto great system of
international improvements, and our incalcu
lable loss in production and trade, and the
balance against us is terrific. And when we
come to take into the estimate the agonized
bosoms . which have been wrung by this de
plorable conflict—the widowed wives it shall
have mad;,—the sonle.ii fathers and mothers
—the hrotherless sisters--the orphaned chil
dren—the ruptured ties is all the sweet rela
tions of li . e—the des,dation, physical and so
cial—embitterment and undying hales—the
want and suffering—rho streaming blood and
griping waunds,oud the grief and .wailing,
which have come of this accursed Rebellion.
I say when we conic to bring tt:l these items
into the dark account, how insignificant be
comes that little amount of $117,000, corn.
pared with that a.tttoundirtg aggregate of Lax
1 11 10 1 1rnifi—and woe, which bears down the
biker side of the recount.`' Had we not far
better have lost five hundred, or even one
thousand slaves a year, thou to have brought
these woes unnumbered. these !Walling ills,
upon the people of our State!
Such, My friends, is the result of the efforts
of iliosx, vilio would allure pat to Secession, to
make slavery safer. here is the feast to
which you hnve been invited. Oh ! how fa.
tel the mistake—how strange the infatuation !
Thank heayeu, you and I have had no part or
lot in the matter. Arid I tell our deluded
count rynien of the South - that they can res
cue the institution of slavery in but one way.
They must come once more under those Stars
and Stripes which protect all they float, above
They mutt fall down v alid worship once more
at the altars of the Union, awl vowing re
pentance-there, bring themselves back within
that Ide , ss:,d, Union which has proved hereto
fore adequate, and he:carter, when res•
toratien mimes, will continue to be ado:plate
to protect them and all their institutions, of
whatever kind. Let them put up ;he fallen
pillars of the Union they have pulled :lawn
m i d they pill up t h e pill.tt.t that sast,in the
instittu'on of slavery, nut before
But I hear tt said that, though tip to the
time of \ir Lixr:u.st's electiou the Federal
Geyer:noon!. had done us no wrong. it has
sines coown a purpose to convert the war
frffill a w:.r for tau Union into a will' far
frtilt iv it it it ho
so ? pat i: itt the power el Cmgress to
c h a nge tine War for the Union into one for the
a'io it ion of slavery 7 The SouttlClll people
tti,mse'v I—the soe,‘,ling Si:utes lla:I they
i n . could we have ever hail an Aledi
Lion Congress'.' And are we to make allow•
once for the present exasperation of the
North ? Fur one. Idu not wunder et it. Tho
North had done its no wrong but to talll abo
lition, which hurts nobody, and which ought
to scare nobody. It had been kind and for-
bearing to us and when, without cause, we
have involved them in a rash and consuming
debt to last for ages f 0 come and prostrat ed their
flourishing industry, and poisoned the fount
tents of their social happiness, we ought to
expect emhitterment and resentment in re
turn. I don't advise it. I would rather con
jure them to be generous yet ; to forgive and
forget ; to forbear all extreme measures ;
above iii things to let slavery alone ; to keep
the pledges they have so•often niadc ; to main
tain honestly the original aim and character
of the war—the preservation of the Govern.
went, the enforcement of the laws anti the
restoration of the Union. If this be done,
1 entreat them to do it, reconstructien may
yet take place; a potet, Union sentiment
may yet arise in the South, and the star
gemmed banner of the Union wave once more
over au undivided and happy country. Yet,
come whatever results may, we, the Union
men; are not responsible ; the Secessionists
are, and they must take the consequences of
their folly.
And now to a few pract iaal , views in con
clusion You are in this war (this twenty
years' war promised you by JEFF. Divtc,)
and you and feel what it is ; do you not ?
Aro you as happy as you were under the
Union of our fathers ? Have you as, much
bread and meat for your wives and children
as you used to have ? Have you employment,
as you had under (ho Union ? Does the
hard fisted mechanic, whose chief property is
the sinewy arms his God has given him, go to
his workshop daily, as he was wont to do ?
Are your wives and daughters decked off with
the handsome calicoes and plain' silks ‘ that
once adorned and made comfortable their per
sons ? Did you pay, under the Union, one
dollar per pound for coffee, and forty cents
for sugar, and seven dollars per pound for
tea, and seventy-five cents per yard for nine
pence calico, as you now do in these hard
times of Secession I (A voice in (ho crowd
—" We don't have coffee, we use parched
corn)." Oh, yes ; then, in the blessed hours
of the Union, you had coffee at 12 cents per
. pound, and now, in Secession's reign, you
have parched corn and burnt wheat in the
place of that luxury - alike of rich peop t le and
poor people—coffee. I pity you from my heart,
for I love the beverage, but would not like to
drink it at the Socessititi,price ot'a dollar a
pound. But to proceed t are your' wives as
happy, or your children'? Do not your wives
tremble and your children start when gath-•
ered at night around the once happy hearth
and fireside? Are you not, many of. you,
awaiting every hour painful from•the
- battle - field of - fratricidal war P Are aloe not
hourly expecting to see some husband, or
father, or brother, or nephew,. borne tCorip-'
pletl or a dead body from the gory field ? This
iti r your experience, a% it is of us all, .of this
deplorable war. Then what- are you to do ?
(A voice-- " Hang the Seoessionists.)W
Well, I have no objection to that, 'so far as the
leaders are concerned. J HVFERSON DAVIS,
and 11011 . EnT Toomns, and Marmara, Ituarr ,
Raid WILLIAM L YANCEY, and llowEtt. Conn,
and the guilty traitors who fomented and
nursed this abowinattle Rebellion, and - es.
Bayed, for selfish considerations and without
any earthly cause, to tumble into fragments
the noblest fabric of givernment, ever reared
by men; and who have deceived and misled to
MEI
ntalt
TERMS :--$1,50 in Advance, or 02 within the year
Men take ii by complusion only. Patriot
isiit will not take it at par. I know the tact
that a lady of Norfolk sent a twenty ir
gold piece to Richmond and got for it•thirty
three dollars in Confederate notes, a discount
oil . the latter of sixty-live per cent. Now,
when the Confederate currency chill have set
tled down to this rate of depnwiatiou, l iw
worthless will it be for carrying on a grea'
war ? The South has no navy, and can get
none; the Federal Qovernment,-in six months,
can build and equip any number of ships it
needs. The hope, too, of foreign interven
tion, is blasted. The opening of the ports of
New Orleans and other Southern cities opens
to France and England supplies of cotton,
anti so these nations have lost all induceiumit
to intefere in our quarrels. And we have 11 n
other greater strength. We have a just cause
to fight fur. We are lighting to save the hest
Government known to men. We are lighting
for WAstiiNuros's Union, and we are lighting
for principles which WasittstiTus, in his part
iug counsels, gave us in charge We are de
fending ourselves from war, actually and
wickedly waged upon us—not a war of our
making. It is loyalty struggling with treason
'ln such a cause, the God of nations and of
battles will help us as Ile did our fathers.
He will give us the victory. So help me
Heaven, follow citizens, one reason why I--
could not and would not participate in this
unnecessary and heartless Rebellion, is that
I have believed in my soul that the God of
justice and right could prosper no such cause
as that which the Seceding States are engaged
in. Besides. there is an old saying, that
"the proof of the pudding is the eating there
of," and let the Seoessiouists take warning from
the - adage Tlreyhave been defeated in every
important engagement save one, though the
masses of the Southern people are still kept in
the dark and made to believe that the South
has won all the battles but one. The Federal
army have re taken nearly every lost fort.-,-
We have Now Orleans, and with it the whole
valley of the Mississippi. We can augment
the Union army to two millions of men if it need
be, and I - solumly believe that if the whole
North were left out of thefight altogether, the
Western mon alone would put down the Re
bellion. I repeat, the South cannot conquer.
It it persist, extermination is the only victory
it can conquer. In naked truth?you had ns
well call on mo to thrash this large crowd of
stalwart men, or upon the puny youngster to
take down the brawny giant, as to expocr
the Confederate Statics of America to wrestle
with the giant power of the United States, I
say, then, get out of this horrible war as best
you can, anti you can best do that by striving
for, and returning to that Union under whose
elevating auspices our country has grown in
a brief space to be among the mightiest of the
nations of the earth, and under which you,
and I, and all the people of the United 'States
have been the happiest thatey.er God's sun
sent down his rays upon. Speak out for, the
Union. Bo not afraid. Fear not; same do,
that the Confederate troops wilt again possess
Norfolk. No danger of that. You aro now
once more; thank God, under the preticothig .
- folds - etthe - Star - sptittgled Blower; ttrid - ifyouT ,
hearts yearn towards the union of your fa
thers, speak out your sentiments like moused
like freemen.. Don't hide your light under a
bushel. - Lot Wahine out and
.it may lead
others into the - path- of right and duty. Your
'example may enoeurage the weak and confirm
the wavering: If you don't pliant a nucleus
here and a nucleus there, as our fathers 'did
in the lievointinn, you May never reach peace
anti the old Union.
their ruin the honest treatises who have no time
to think of political affairs, and a large portion
of whom cannot,even read or write twain/en,
I bay,- who know hotter, ought, to be hanged,
not the deceived innocent masses; and this
war will be without its moral unless example
be made of these wicked foremen in a nation's
ruin. The Federal Government must before
this great fray ends, .demonstrate to all the
world not only its ability to put down treason
and rebellion, but the will and the detertnina
ton to punish traitors and rebels ; fd'r with
out these . admonitory lessons, treason and
rebellion may rise up at any hour to disturb
the national peace, and to shake the founda
tions of society. I repeat, what are you to
do ? You must put an end to the war. if
you stand in the mire, will you not sink deeper
and deeper into it the longer you stand?—
Just so at is with the ivar. The lougar you
stay in it, the deeper will you sink into the
mire of its troubles, and miseries and des
olations ; so get out of it, and ns soon as you
can; and ono reason ouz,ltt to be conclusive
with you and Secessionists too—the South
cannot win in this contest. It can never es-
tablish its independence. The odds are too
strong against it. We of the South have
eight millions of white men to twenty millions
against us. In the nature of things, we cannot
overcome this vast superiority in the great
material of any war. We started in the war,
I know,- with the absurd notion that one
Southern 111.111 wLs equal, in battle, to five
Northern men, but I pre-time that delusion is
now well cleared up. We hugged that other
delusion that Northern men would not fight,
and I presume this hallucination has also
passed away. Thu .''cursed Yankees, ' to-use
Dixie's parlance, will not fight duels, and in
that they Rh w their good sense. But put
them to fighting for principle—for the Stai
and Stripes, for example—and they will fight
as hard as any people on earth. And look,
too, at the spirit now exhibiting on the second
call upon the North for troops. Legion after
legion is rushing down to the .battle place,
resolved, at all hazards. to maintain the Gov
ernment, and thug back again to the breeze
the glorious Stars and Stripes. -
The spirit of twenty millions of such men
is not to be resisted. Besides, the South
wants all the elements of successful warfare.
It wants even powder. It wants heavy artil
lery, the great instrumentality of model n
warfaro—that instrumentality which Nero
LRON said God Almighty was always on the
side of. It wants the great essentials of corn
'tierce and nimmifactures. It wants the wool
en clothing to keep the soldier's limbs warm,
and the shoes to protect his feet from the
lacerating tread. Wanting Tioth commerce
imlnufactures, it lit u no hoarded millions
of excess cash to draw upon for the necesifes
or war. About ten millions ut luau was all
it could rake and scrape fruit the chests of
its capitalists. The result is that the Fedora]
Government has unlimited credit, while the
Conte lerate States have none 'racy have
even to legislate their worthless paper issues
into currency.
Above all, do not 'allow yourselves in be
rnisled by the fallacy, honest, no doubt, with
a few, that the people of Virginia, should do
nothing,' makil no move, until a convention of
the people , t sball hav t o again sent, her back to
the Union. Let' not this fallacy keep you
bank. 'l'fiegoireinnient of our State mtnit . be;
neeessarilyi for some time, chiefly a military
fn the meantime, let tho voice of the
Union men ho heard loud and strong; and
when, by the general speaking out of the
Union mon; it shall bb found that they are
strong to save, tl}ero : • will be:no' difficulty in
making the arrangements Air restoring the
State to her position, lathe , Union.. Let your
present efforts look to the 'expression and
devolopment of the Union sentiment--details
will follow.
13E,CONT.MITED IniT,Cll YOUfl BUSINESS.
—The supposed capabilities of a man for
another employment should never have
the effect of making him despise or neg
lect his present one, humble as it may be.
If it is worth our. while to do a thing
at all, it is surely worth our while to do it
well. If there be any false shame on the
subject it ought to be banished by the
reflection, that there are a great number
of men of worth and talent superior to ours,
laboring and laboring cheerfully, at still
meaner employments. Besides, it should
ever be borne in mind that even in com
paratively obscure situations in life, there
may be, and is, the greatest earthly happi
ness. By-a due culture of the fimulties,
by refining the sentiments, a common
blacksmith may enjoy a satisfaction of
mind equal to that of the greatest man in
the parish.
One who values genius merely as u
means of advancement in the world, can
not know or feel what genius is. Yet on
this false estimate are based a great pro
portion of the dreams which disturb the
existence and fritter away the energies of
youth. It is not spiritual, but temporal
glory fur which the common visionary
pants. It is not the souls of men he de
sires to take captive, but merely their
pockets ; the paradise which opens to his
mind's eye beyond the counter, is com
posed of fine houses, gay dresses, and
luxurious meals. The meanness of such
aspirations, enables us to say without
compunction, that he who indulges thorn,
no more possesses the intellectual capa
bilities he flincie - s - , tlia - a he iS likely to en
joy the substantial rewards of industry
and perseverence.
NO. 7.
According to adjournment the Middlesex
Teacher's Institute met on the evening of
the tith lust at Mr. Ruhl's School. The
President called the house to order and call
ed the roll. Singing, the first exercise in
order, was performed by a class of Mr.
Ruhl's scholars, alter which prayer was made
by Mr. Swiler. Alter prayer an opportunity
was extended to persons wishing to become
members of the Institute to do so, upon
which Mr. KeitTer and Mr. Swiler became
members. The answering and proposing of
questions was next disposed of, after which
Mr. Me(i migal read an Essay on Education.
Mr. O'Hara wea next called upon. Ile said
he Wad select oil for his subject Music—he
strongly urged its introduction in all our
Cominon Schools—spoke of its moral tear
loner, and tivally gave his method of teach
imt it, Mr. Relit next exhibited one of his
classes en Grammar, and through it g-tve his
method of teaching said branch. Mr. Stock
and Mr. O'Hara also offered some remarks
uu liramu Aker which Mr. Stock toile
np th.l subject of Parental Co-operation.—
He expressed his views on the subject fully
an•l ably, ailvancin ! : some important ideas.
The sidijeet was open for and was
rirtiei pitted in by Messrs. MeGoni4al, O'Hara
and Swiler, Singing, the closing exercise,
was performed by a class of Mr. Ituhl's scho
-1 .rs. On motion, the Institute adjourned to
meet again at MiddlesCx in two weeks.
GEolotE O'HARA, Sect'y.
South Middleton Institute convened at
Centre School Houso, Feb. 7, the President
in the chair. Miss S. E. Adams and Mr. L.
Glenn read selections. Miss S. E. Fleming
real an Esiav, and Mr. W. B. Butler deliv
ered an Address. Geography was discusSed
by teachers and others. The Institute ad
j turned at 12 M. to meet at 1 P. M. In the
afternoon session Mental Arithmetic was
taken up and discussed. The next meeting
will be lick! at Myers' School House, Feb.
21. Programme for next meeting: Selec
tions, Miii F. Henderson and Mr. J. Stuart;
Essay, Miss L. AII. Anderson ; Address, Mr.
11. Burn ; Critic, Elias Mountz; Subjects for
discussion, Penmanship and School Govern
ment. The following resolutions were pass
ed : Rcsolrol, That the thanks of the In
stitute be tendered to Mr. Murray for the
active part he took in the discussion of the
different subjects. Resolved, That the thanks
of the Institute be tendered to Messrs. Wm.
L. Craighead, J. W. Craighead, A. Bradley,
and S. Lehman, for their hospitalities to the
members. H. M. CRIDER, Secey.
—The Monroe - Teacher's - AssOation - tnet
pursuant to adjournment at School House
Nu; 12, on Feb. 7th. House called to order
by the President. Roll called, all present.
Minutes of previous meeting read and adop.
ted. The committee on books reported the
Massachusetts Teacher, which was accepted.
An amendment to the constitution providing
fur the election of a Librarian was adopted.
The Association then proceeded to elect a
Librarian, which resulted in the choice of
Mr. G. W. Titzel. The returning and dis
tributing or books was next gone through
with. ' Selections were read by Miss Culbert
son andllr. Plank, after which Penmanship
was taken up and discussed by Messrs. Eb
erly, Richwine, Plank, Kline, Clark, Binge
man, Titzel, Cain, and tioodyear. Adjourn.
od till 1 o'clock. ..-Ifecrnowl. Session.—An
Essay, subject, Teacher's Duty, was read by
Miss Erick. Geography was thee discussed
by the teachers. It was thought that schools
should be furnished with globes and out-line
maps, and that some of our text books should
be thrown out of the schools. The proprie
ty of making physical culture one of the re
gular branches of instruction in our common
schools was discussed by a few of the teach
ers. Parental Co-operation was next hroulilit,
before the AssoCiation_by Mr: Titzel, and be
was followed on the same subject by Alessra.
Eberly,_Goodyear-and Cain.-
was agreed that Arithmetic, Algebra, and
are public school examinations and exhibi
tions advisable p be the subjeeti for .disdus.
siou at the, next meeting. Duties for next
meeting, Miss Gleim and Mr.._gline, Selec
tions; Miss Culbertson, Essay; andpia.
wine, Oration.' The following resolution was
passed : /o.seiveq--IThat the thanks of the
Association be tendered to . Messrs. J. Leidig,
Dr. Hoover, G. Statitbaugh, `J.' Sierer,
Zerger and 11. Yohn, for their, hospitalities
to the members and citizens present at ,this
meeting of the Association. Adjourned to.
meet at Sebool House No. -1, (Line's) Feb.
21, de 10 A. M.
(0 (In t I.o'n nee
Teachers' Institutes
S. P. GOOEYEAR, Sect'y